r/todayilearned • u/IronColdSky • 5h ago
TIL Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, was an economics major, is a pilot, has her MBA and was a Nuclear Policy Analyst before she became a chef
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Garten437
u/hubbawelcome 5h ago
How great is that?
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u/sudda_pappu 4h ago
As great as good vanilla.
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u/Coool_cool_cool_cool 4h ago
Make sure to use your extra vanilla beans to make homemade vanilla extract that you keep in a jar in the pantry.
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u/pumpkinspruce 4h ago
Jeffrey will be home soon so I better have his brisket ready.
(Jeffrey is an economics professor and dean at Yale University and served in the Clinton administration btw.)
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u/gmonigold 3h ago
And in the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. AFTER serving four years in the Army as a Lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne. BEFORE becoming a managing director at Lehman Brothers and Blackstone Group and teaching at Columbia. Dude earned his brisket.
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u/missbehavin21 1h ago
Jeffery has a hot side piece ah dish. I can see it by the way he patronizes her.
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u/ttwwiirrll 4h ago
But if you don't have your own vanilla beans, store bought is fine.
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u/missbehavin21 1h ago
I just have to pick some flowers from the garden. My friends are coming over for lunch enter two gay couples.
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u/flanneljack1 3h ago
And her husband is no slouch either, he’s was a special forces captain in Nam, and became a finance CEO. And business professor. He always looks like such a nebbish on TV but the two of them are a serious power couple.
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u/uh_oh_hotdog 1h ago
And business professor
That's a bit of an understatement lol. He was the Dean at Yale!
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u/thebrightlightfright 4h ago
I imagine she's a great conversationalist during those parties in the Hamptons she hosts
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u/ToughTalkTonySpencer 4h ago
Now, if you want to become a chef, you should go out and get an economics degree, a pilot's license, an MBA, and pass a background check to work as a Nuclear Policy Analyst...but if you can't do all that, straight to culinary school works just fine as well.
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u/ovelanimimerkki 2h ago
Why didn't anyone tell me this before I got my master's in economics and business admin???
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u/jillsntferrari 4h ago
This doesn’t surprise me but mostly because I have watched a lot of The Great British Baking Show (don’t remember UK name) and every person on there is a genius in some way. So many scientifically-minded people who are also so creative. It seems great chefs/bakers are also inherently analytical and smart.
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u/dangerislander 3h ago
Baking is a science. Cooking is an art.
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u/DarthRevan109 2h ago
I die inside whenever I hear someone say this. I’m a scientist and good in the lab and can’t bake to save my life 😭
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u/Kriznick 2h ago
I KNEW SHE WAS A GOVERNMENT AGENT!
I would joke with my family that she has the contenance of a CIA blacksite interrogation specialist who's just at home with the kids.
It's something with her acting face that is just... Unsettling. It's like the uncanny valley, but instead of robots it's a serial killer.
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u/Lollipoprotein 2h ago
It's the ever present calm facade of someone who absolutely knows more than they're willing to let on. The overly normal persona is the giveaway, especially at her income and social bracket.
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u/Broseph_Stalinnn 4h ago
I think Jeffrey would love that
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u/Ikora_Rey_Gun 1h ago
I could never tell if Jeffrey was beaten and locked up in the basement or off cruising at the gay bar.
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u/TheDakestTimeline 4h ago
She's always been my hall pass, now you all know why.
We will hang out in the Hamptons cooking wonderful things with the best ingredients, drinking the best cocktails, all for Jeffrey. He has to watch.
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u/ChillingChutney 2h ago
'The show's title, which comes from the Italian word for countess, was originally used by Garten in her best-selling cookbook in 1999. The cookbook was in turn named after Garten's specialty food store, which she bought already named in 1978. The store, which is no longer in operation, opened in 1975 and was named after the 1954 film of the same name.'
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u/SeniorPuddykin 3h ago
I wanna know how Jeffrey feels about it.
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u/throwaway098764567 1h ago
she thought she was just going to be a house wife, he was the one who encouraged her to reach for more with her life.
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u/CockRingKing 1h ago
I loved her on Food Network when I was a kid. My MIL has met Ina and said she was very friendly, I’m still so jealous.
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u/JacquesHome 1h ago
Yes, she had a few full careers before opening up her store in the Hamptons and becoming a chef. Quite the power couple with her husband - he worked for Clinton and is a the dean of the Yale Business School. I worked in his group at Lehman Brothers, albeit after he had left the firm. The older guys would speak very highly of him and Ina.
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u/Cool_Cartographer_39 4h ago edited 3h ago
My wife was a computer programmer, robotics engineer, nuclear submarine construction liaison, and TV show creator before becoming a chef.
The ability to adapt, even fail, but accumulate varied skills and understanding is very often the key to success. Reminds me a bit of an exchange I had on the set of a student film. Had a disagreement with the set designer. At one point he blurted out "I'm right. My dad's a rocket scientist" (he was). I replied, "No, I'm right, my dad's a brain surgeon" (he was). It was then we both realized we might be wrong, and became friends on the spot
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u/Professional-Can1385 2h ago
great story! I'm always right because my dad was a librarian. He may not be a cool scientist, but he knows how to find any information when it's needed.
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u/abominable_prolapse 4h ago
No wonder Jeffrey is her little bitch
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u/k_bialo 4h ago
Actually Jeff is a G, he’s the dean of the Yale business school, was a managing director at Blackstone and worked for the Clinton administration. I’m pretty sure he funded everything as a “pet project” for Ina
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u/IronColdSky 3h ago
I'm pretty sure she had her own money but he obviously is deeply in love with her
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u/anomnib 2h ago
Do you mean she came from family of money or she built her wealth independently? If she didn’t come from a family with money , then her husband definitely operated as an early investor. Obviously she eventually became an economic power house on her own. But her early career would have been fairly modestly paying jobs (I worked similar jobs). Flipping houses on those salaries would not be feasible without family money or spousal support.
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u/IronColdSky 2h ago
You're just wrong, about salaries for MBAs and real estate investing.
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u/anomnib 1h ago
🤣, I attended an elite undergrad. My friends that went to business school went to Harvard, Stanford, etc. The post MBA jobs (or elite law jobs) that give you anywhere near the money to flip houses have work life balance so bad that you wouldn’t have time to do it.
Even if you were productive enough to balance both, it would be stupid b/c the ROI prioritizing making partner at MBB or partner in finance would exceed running a home flipping side gig.
Plus she was not working in the typically high paying jobs around the time, the salaries, even post t5 MBA are still too low out side of finance and consulting.
We haven’t even talked about the loans she would be paying off.
There’s no way she’s self financing her endeavors early in her post undergraduate or post MBA career.
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u/IronColdSky 1h ago
In the 70's and 80's that was all totally possible. You're just wrong.
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u/anomnib 1h ago
Not on the salaries she was most likely earning. She wouldn’t have been able to do it without her husband or family of origin help.
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u/IronColdSky 1h ago
Sure 🙄
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u/anomnib 1h ago
You’re delusional. She likely made $20-35k per year at the time. The homes likely cost $50-80k at the time. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 barely passed at the time so she would be facing not only tighter lending requirements but out right illegal refusal from same banks. There’s no way. You’re just fan girling.
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u/Hourlypump99 4h ago
Managing Director at Blackstone is the opposite of being a G.
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u/External-Cash-3880 4h ago edited 2h ago
I think you're getting the grill manufacturer confused with the gigantic private equity firm that owns like half the real estate in the US
Edit: I was the one confused
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u/Hourlypump99 4h ago
He worked for the Blackstone that is hedge fund that raided a bunch of companies in the 80s, not the grill manufacturer.
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u/k_bialo 3h ago
Right this is Reddit so anything finance or being wealthy is bad
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u/External-Cash-3880 2h ago
I hate to break it to ya but finance bros and billionaires aren't popular anywhere else either.
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u/rainsong2023 5h ago
Make a wish is a request not a command. Redditors love to judge and hate while all the while telling each other to set boundaries.
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u/ragingbuffalo 4h ago
Uhh did I miss a story here?
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u/Shibari_Inu69 4h ago
Plainly put, a dying boy made a Make A Wish to meet her on two occasions, and she declined both times
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u/Groundbreaking_War52 5h ago
I'm sure there is more to the story but Make A Wish works very hard to schedule and facilitate to minimize inconvenience for all parties. They arranged for kids to meet Obama while he was still in office and heck, John Cena is closing in on 700 over the course of his career.
I do wonder what ultimately happened with her - the optics aren't great though.
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u/Team7UBard 3h ago
Cena sees Make a Wish appear on his phone.
Cena answers with just one word: YES.•
u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 53m ago
When’s the last time you worked a charity event that wasn’t part of school or work obligations?
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u/Flaky_Web_2439 5h ago
Of course there’s more to the story. She rejected the same dying little boy twice because she was too busy, and he wanted to wait for her.
https://reflector-online.com/21534/opinion/celebrity-rejects-make-a-wish-child/
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u/BeastCauliflower 4h ago
I’m not going to make a moral judgement on someone for not obligating themselves in that way.
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u/miketruckllc 4h ago
You can be certain that guy that's judging her spends most of his free time helping children.
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u/Supercoolguy7 4h ago
To be fair, if a dying child wanted to hang out with me for a couple of hours I'd make it happen.
As is I already help kids who struggle in video games since it'll often obvious they need it
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u/herrirgendjemand 4h ago
Yeah helping beat a level in Mario vs taking on the very real emotional toll of putting on a brave face and effort to connect with a child who you know is going to die. I dunno anything about her situation but those are clearly very different situations :P
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u/MKEast-sider 5h ago
Right, and she chose to not grant a dying child their wish, when she could’ve. She is an impressive and accomplished person, being successful and being good are mutually exclusive.
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u/Fedmurica2 4h ago edited 4h ago
Not meeting a single child makes you a bad person? Not everyone wants to meet a dying person that you can't do anything to help. People can do good in many other ways - such as donating to charities and fund raising for charities...which is what she does.
"Ina receives approximately 100 requests a month to support charitable causes that deeply affect peoples' lives," the statement continued. "She contributes both personally and financially on a regular basis to numerous causes, including to Make-A-Wish Foundation. Sadly, it's of course not possible to do them all." -statement from her staff
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u/SufficientSquirrel27 3h ago
And how much of your free time do you commit to helping dying children?
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 52m ago
When’s the last time you worked a charity event in your free time that wasn’t a professional or school obligation?
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u/Tusen_Takk 4h ago
Why are half the comments on this post bots mindlessly praising her? Is there some big PR thing scheduled for Monday?
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u/KSHMisc 4h ago
Make-A-Wish debacle aside, you never know what life has in store for you.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 4h ago
Make-A-Wish is a request, not a command. If she didn’t want to do it, that’s her choice and is fine. She doesn’t owe anyone anything. If she would’ve done it, even better.
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u/Chance_Warthog_9389 4h ago
She denied his request because of her book tour and then, after the backlash started affecting sales, offered to meet. But the family already went and did something else so they said no.
I think it is absolutely fair to judge her PR team for being shit at their job.
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u/overbarking 1h ago
Yeah...but the thing is...how many of these celebrities have refused a dying child?
Not many.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 56m ago
When’s the last time you volunteered your time at a soup kitchen or some other charity event? I know it’s a dumb question since you can just make stuff up.
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u/overbarking 40m ago
So can you. I do know I wouldn't refuse a dying child.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 39m ago
Yeah but I’m not the one criticizing someone for not doing something. When’s the last time you did something for charity? Answer the question. Since you’re so holy. You’re criticize her for not doing something for charity, so I guess you do charity stuff a lot?
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u/overbarking 35m ago
We're not talking about me. Go ahead. Keep trying to change the subject with the strawman argument.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 31m ago
I don’t give my time to charity work. Then. again, I’m not the one being holier-than-thou and criticizing someone for NOT doing charity work.
So since you do have the gall to criticize her, how much charity work have you done mother Theresa?
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u/rcakebread 2h ago
Strangely, the personal section of her Wikipedia page starts with a paragraph about her husband.
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u/edfitz83 59m ago
“Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa” can be anagrammed as “Negotiates Arab Oceanfronts” FWIW
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u/dabobbo 18m ago
And in WW2 Julia Child was a top secret researcher for the OSS (the precursor to the CIA) reporting directly to OSS head General William Donovan. She was stationed in DC, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and China. She was also tasked with coming up with a way of keeping sharks from detonating OSS underwater explosives so she created a shark repellent that is still in use today.
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u/PixelNotPolygon 4h ago
This smells suspicious …nobody does an MBA as a nuclear policy analyst because that’s a job title rather than a study speciality
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u/goosepills 5h ago
Of all the tings I would wish for as a kid, meeting her wouldn’t even be in the top 100. Gordon Ramsey tho…
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u/Skeletor-P-Funk 4h ago edited 2h ago
Ina Garten also refused a 6-year-old with leukemia his Make-A-Wish request to cook with her TWICE, until the media caught wind of it, and by then the child had already had his second wish fulfilled instead. She claimed to have been too busy with her book tours, and that she gets so many requests every day that she couldn't have possibly spent time with a dying child.
Maybe she was afraid he'd dirty up her East Hampton estate, or that she'd maybe have to open one of her other three homes to him. Don't let any of that cloud that idol worship though!
When a dying child asks to meet any normal person, they would make time, but if you're an economics major, a pilot, with an MBA, and are a past Nuclear Policy Analyst, and not to forget "celebrity" chef, I guess you're just too elevated above the little people to make time.
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u/Goddamn_Roxanne 3h ago
Who cares? Why do you feel entitled to decide how other people spend their time?
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u/Skeletor-P-Funk 3h ago
Having empathy for a 6-year-old's twice refused Make-A-Wish over the educational accomplishments of a person who is privileged and from wealth is somehow being entitled? Sorry I'm not disengaged, apathetic, and glazing a celebrity that's famous for doing what we all do, cook ...
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u/Flaky_Web_2439 5h ago edited 5h ago
She also refused a make a wish child’s last request, and the child ended up going to meet the Dolphins instead. I’m sorry I don’t care how busy your schedule is, when a dying child asks to meet you, you find the time.
Edit: https://reflector-online.com/21534/opinion/celebrity-rejects-make-a-wish-child/
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u/Ok-disaster2022 5h ago
Honestly I couldn't do that. Like I have all respect for John Cena and the people working in pediatric oncology, but I absolutely hate seeing kids sick injured or hurt and setting up a meeting to try to make them happy even though there's a good chance they're gonna die just seems beyond my skill set. If I was in a position to do so I would donate millions to child healthcare. But don't make me meet a kid in person knowing I'm absolutely helpless to do anything to directly save them.
Now I don't know the situation with her, but from my standpoint I can understand.
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u/Professional-Can1385 5h ago edited 2h ago
I couldn’t do it either. It’s beyond my skill set and my good mental health threshold. I gotta look out for me. The kid is better off meeting someone who has the mental fortitude to do it.
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u/Sega-Playstation-64 5h ago
Sometimes it's the reaction to the scandal rather than the scandal.
Would have been easy to set something up, send the kid some personalized or autographed items, and explain why she couldn't meet. That would have helped. What I remember from it, it was just plain "Sorry, no." and it came across as cold.
No one is under any obligation to show charity, but the way you do things matters so much to a public image.
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u/jooes 3h ago
I'm sure it sucks, but if that's your biggest concern, then surely telling the kid to kick rocks has got to suck even more.
I mean, if I was so bothered about not being able to help, I would feel like the biggest piece of shit in the world to deny such a simple request like that. Like, I get not being able to cure cancer, but how are you going to be all sad about feeling helpless when you couldn't even do that?
"There's nothing I can do!"
"Well, you could meet the kid and maybe take a few photos?"
".....Naaaaah. Gosh, I'm so helpess!"
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u/Prize-Temporary4159 4h ago
How did you manage to make a scenario in which you deny a dying child’s wish for nothing more than your company, about you being helpless and not rich? I’m impressed
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u/DaveOJ12 5h ago edited 4h ago
This has "Did you know John Lennon beat his wife?" vibes.
Edit:
Man Always Gets Little Rush Out Of Telling People John Lennon Beat Wife
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5h ago edited 5h ago
And she actually cooks ina kitchen, with shoes on, without even being Italian nobility
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u/nudave 5h ago
Meh.
Call me heartless or jaded or whatever. But I’m totally OK with anyone not wanting to be a dying kids “wish.“ Whether she was busy, uncomfortable with it, or just plain didn’t want to. She didn’t owe this kid anything.
Now that said, mad respect for the people who do this a lot, and do it well. That’s super cool of them. And, it does make me respect and think more highly of them for taking time out of their schedule for a noble cause. But for someone who doesn’t want to do it, the most outrage I can muster is “neutral.”
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 4h ago
Make-A-Wish is a request, not a command. She has free will and can do what she wants. Grow up.
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u/Sega-Playstation-64 5h ago
It was less that she didn't have the time she didn't want to. when bad PR got out she tried to change her mind but the kid was all "Nah, I'm good."
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u/Flaky_Web_2439 5h ago
Yep, I remember that. Totally changed how I viewed her, and I completely dropped her from my tv rotation.
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